Tuesday, April 5, 2011

norm and jane at Vinyl Record Talk have an interesting show (they all are) lined up for today. Stop by and give the program a listen - i dare you!

We brought in several new acquisitions last week, so todays show has lots of music, all of it on vinyl. One purchase we made has a number of UK early punk 7in records. We start off with The Damned and Bauhaus. Think of it as a free preview. These two and many others will be going on auction and sale later in the week.

Plus, Jane picks some surf LPs we currently have, and no spring in California is complete to any vinyl collector without Iron Butterfly, which finds it way into Norms fingers after he pulls randomly from a box.

And we celebrate the 62nd anniversay of the 45 RPM record in the news, plus the Top 5 eBay sales and more.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On their 17th studio album, George Thorogood and The Destroyers pay tribute to their Chess Records heroes, including many of Thorogood's legendary mentors who helped to launch his career in rock & roll. Titled 2120 South Michigan Avenue, the 13-track album will be released by Capitol/EMI on July 12 on CD, vinyl LP, and digital download. '2120' features Thorogood's raw, rocking turn on classics by a who's-who of the blues, including Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and other Chess greats, as well as new original songs written by Thorogood, the album's producer, Tom Hambridge, and Richard Fleming.

George Thorogood and The Destroyers have been recording and touring for more than 30 years. While in his teens in Delaware, Thorogood was turned on to Chess Records and the label's genre-defining artist roster by the Rolling Stones.

"The first Rolling Stones album I bought, 12x5, included '2120 South Michigan Avenue'," says Thorogood. "I said, 'I know I've heard this somewhere before ...' I wrote to Chess, they sent me a catalog, and my life was changed."

Named for the address of Chess Records' Chicago headquarters, 2120 South Michigan Avenue is produced by musician, songwriter and producer Tom Hambridge, a four-time GRAMMY Award nominee and 2010 GRAMMY winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album (Hambridge produced Buddy Guy's Living Proof) and ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award winner. The album's featured guests include 2010 GRAMMY Award winners Buddy Guy and Charlie Musselwhite.

The album opens with "Going Back," a blistering new song written by Hambridge and Thorogood, setting the stage for Thorogood and The Destroyers to rip through classic Chess chestnuts including "High Heel Sneakers" (featuring Buddy Guy, who originally recorded the song for Chess), Willie Dixon's "Seventh Son," Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful," Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock," Muddy Waters' "Two Trains Running," Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley," J.B. Lenoir's "Mama Talk To Your Daughter," Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help Me," Little Walter's "My Babe" (featuring Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica), and Jimmy Rogers' "Chicago Bound." The album also features another new song by Hambridge and Thorogood, along with Nashville songwriter, Richard Fleming, titled "Willie Dixon's Gone," and the album's closing title track, the Rolling Stones' instrumental, "2120 South Michigan Avenue" (featuring Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica).

George Thorogood forged his signature sound of blues-infused rock & roll with the musical guidance he received from his Chess heroes. The Destroyers fought their way to the top, barging out of Delaware in the '70s as a jarringly high-energy bunch (also featuring drummer Jeff Simon and bassist Billy Blough), playing raucous, slide guitar-stoked, blues-rock takes on tunes by Chuck Berry, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and others. Soon, they were touring and gigging with many of these statesmen of the blues, and learning invaluable lessons with every encounter.

"We were playing with these tough guys – these legends – away from their mean streets of Chicago. The audiences on the road were a real shift from the rough scene they fought through at home," says Thorogood. "That's the blues. That's the education I got, hanging out day in and day out. There's an incredible story behind the music - they're speaking the truth."

Thorogood is proud to honor Chess Records' architects of modern blues and rock & roll, saying "Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley are religion to me. I know their ears and eyes are on me, so I have to nail it."

2120 South Michigan Avenue producer Tom Hambridge says of Thorogood, "What's makes this album so perfect for George is that he has been doing it authentically all along. He can deliver Howlin' Wolf better than anybody, because he's lived it. He's not going to sing something he doesn't believe in."

The Destroyers have expanded through the years; the band now includes original members Simon and Blough, as well as guitarist Jim Suhler (a Texan who was brought aboard in 1999) and saxophonist Buddy Leach, who joined in 2003. Their latest album, 2009's The Dirty Dozen, debuted at #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart, fueled by the album's #1 single, "Tail Dragger." Thorogood is no stranger to ruling Billboard's Blues chart, as 2004's Gold-certified Greatest Hits: 30 Years Of Rock was the magazine's #1 Blues Album for both 2004 and 2005, and the band's 2006 studio album, The Hard Stuff, hit #2 on the chart. The band has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

George Thorogood and The Destroyers will include some songs from 2120 South Michigan Avenue in setlists on their North American tour, which kicks off this week and includes stops this summer at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre and South Dakota's Sturgis Rally. Thorogood will debut several songs from the new album at Southern California's Canyon Club on April 13, a concert that will be recorded for Westwood One's "Superstar Concert Series" and later aired by more than 100 of the radio network's affiliate stations across the U.S.

Rock & Roll icon Jerry Lee Lewis will perform a special one-off live concert on Saturday, April 16th at Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville, TN. The show will be recorded direct to analog tape at the Third Man complex in downtown Nashville, with Jack White producing, as with all the Third Man recordings. Lewis’ live show will then be pressed and packaged locally at United Record Pressing just down the street from Third Man and will be sold at the label’s retail outlet within weeks, reminiscent of the spontaneous releases of Lewis’ early career.

It has been over half a century since true American original Jerry Lee Lewis first rocketed to the top of America’s pop, country and R&B charts with “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire.” While those iconoclastic performances still define the essence of rock ‘n’ roll for millions, The Killer himself continues to thrill audiences around the world with his unique, scorching blend of rock, blues, country and gospel--and will no doubt do so at Third Man, backed by a stellar band of Steve Cropper (guitarist of Booker T & The MGs and Stax catalogue acclaim), Jim Keltner (drummer for three of the Beatles formative solo efforts, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and more) and Jack Lawrence (bassist for The Raconteurs, Greenhornes, Loretta Lynn and The Dead Weather).

Tickets will be $30 and are on sale tomorrow, 12 noon Tuesday, April 5th, at the Third Man store front at 623 7th Avenue South in Nashville and in our online store. Doors will open 4pm and the show will begin at 5pm on Saturday. April 16th.

Jerry Lee Lewis' sure to be historic set will be the culmination of Third Man's Record Store Day festivities which begin Saturday, April 16th at 11:30am, during which The Third Man Rolling Record Store as well as the label's storefront outlet will be selling the following four incredible Record Store Day vinyl offerings:

Record Store Day Releases

TMR-088The White Stripes
“Let’s Shake Hands” b/w “Look Me Over Closely”
The much-awaited reissue of the White Stripes first-ever release from 1998. This pressing corrects a channel inversion and audio glitch present in the 2002 reissue by manufacturing from the original pressing plates from 1998. Quantities on Record Store Day will all be on a custom red vinyl with black whisps while subsequent re-pressings will be on black vinyl. Says Jack White, “We finally got the right tone of red on the front cover. I’ve been waiting 13 years for that.”

TMR-089The White Stripes
“Lafayette Blues” b/w “Sugar Never Tasted So Good”
Unavailable on vinyl since 2001, this is the reissue of the White Stripes 2nd-ever single originally released in 1998. Record Store Day quantities will be on a custom white vinyl with black whisps while subsequent repressings will be on black vinyl.

TMR-090Karen Elson
“Vicious” b/w “In Trouble With the Lord”
Limited to 1000 copies pressed on clear vinyl with peach-colored rose pedals encased inside the record. Features Elson’s inimitable take on Lou Reed’s solo classic “Vicious” coupled with a captivating outtake from her “The Ghost Who Walks” LP. Copies pressed on black vinyl with a standard picture sleeve will be available at a later date.

TMR-093Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi present ROME starring Jack White and Norah Jones “Two Against One” b/w “Black”
The debut release from this unprecedented assortment of talent. “Two Against One” features White on lead vocals and Jones takes the lead on “Black.” Both songs will be included on the full-length version of ROME available May 17th worldwide.

All titles will be available for purchase at Third Man Records on Record Store Day, as well as at finer independent record shops the world over.

Finally, anyone who shows up for Third Man's Record Store Day extravaganza will be able to purchase the Jerry Lee Lewis Live at Third Man limited edition black and blue vinyl edition.

Bob Roets has noticed the surge in popularity of vinyl records among young people.

Including his two sons, Andy and Chris.

Both of the boys, now college students, have large collections of vintage and contemporary vinyl LPs, he says – undoubtedly helped along by the fact that their dad owns Fort Wayne’s three Wooden Nickel independent record shops.

Among them, the stores have thousands of vinyl recordings, the popularity of which Roets credits with helping keep him in business for 30 years.

a very good article from the independent student newspaper of tufts university, well worth reading, the writer certainly has it figured out!

Vinyl recalls the pleasures of pre−digital listening

Matthew Welch on stepping into the vinyl world, and the trade−off between tangibility and convenience

By Matthew Welch

The digital age has changed pretty much everything about music — how we get it, how we store it, how it's recorded. When our parents wanted to listen to music, they had to do more than just push a button. Now, laptops and iPods give us instant access and huge volumes of storage, but they fail to bring us something enjoyed by generations of previous music listeners: tangibility. Listeners of the past had to unearth the record they wanted, take the vinyl out, blow the dust off and put it on a turntable. Even though this process is a relatively simple one, it creates a different experience from the one our generation is used to.

noisecreep.com has a fantastic interview with the band about the new live LP and the new tour:

Def Leppard Guitarist Talks New Live Album and DVD Set, Tour Plans

by Jon Wiederhorn

It's hard to believe that in over 33 years, rock legends Def Leppard have never released an official live album. Instead, they've kept on plugging away through great times (the '80s), hard times ('the '90s) and pretty good times (the '00s). Through it all, they've toured non-stop, whether playing sold-out arenas or amusement parks.

This summer, after playing the Download Festival in England, Def Leppard will hit the road in North America with support from Heart starting June 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

In 1965, 30 year old Sonny Bono and his 18 year old wife Cher are signed to Atco Records by Ahmet Ertegun. The duo had earlier made a handful of unsuccessful singles as Caesar and Cleo, but over the next seven years they would enjoy eleven Billboard Top 40 hits.

In 1969, "These Eyes" by The Guess Who enters the Billboard chart on its way to #6 a month later. Guitarist Randy Bachman wrote the basic piano chords with an original title of "These Arms". Vocalist Burton Cummings changed the title to "These Eyes" and added the middle eight bars.

Minnie Riperton was at #1 on the U.S. singles chart in 1975 (2 in the U.K.) with the Stevie Wonder produced “Loving You” – her only U.S. chart hit. Riperton died of cancer on 12 July 1979.

Led Zeppelin released their seventh studio album, "Presence" in 1976.

Duran Duran made their live debut at The Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Polytechnic in 1978.

In 1980, R.E.M. played their first ever gig when appearing at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia.

In 1983, US Interior Secretary James Watt officially announces that he will not invite The Beach Boys and The Grass Roots to perform at the annual Fourth of July celebration in Washington because they attract "the wrong element of people." His choice of entertainers is Wayne Newton. President Ronald Regan would overturn the decision two days later.

In 1985, an estimated 5,000 radio stations around the world simultaneously played the song "We Are the World".

In 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide at his Seattle home. Cobain’s body wasn’t discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep. A suicide note was found that read; “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing … for too many years now.” A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were found in Cobain’s body. His death was officially ruled as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

In 1998, British drummer Cozy Powell was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on a motorway in Bristol, England. Powell had worked with Jeff Beck, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Rainbow and the ELP spin-off Emerson, Lake, & Powell. The drummer had also played on sessions by Donovan, Roger Daltrey, Jack Bruce, Gary Moore and Brian May

In 2006, Gene Pitney was found dead aged 65 of natural causes in a Cardiff hotel. The American singer was on a U.K. tour and had shown no signs of illness.